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You are here: HomeNewsThe Zogby Poll®: High taxes and corruption in Albany top voters' list of biggest problems facing NYS; A majority of New York voters think Cuomo is doing a bad job as governor; More than half of voters think the state is headed in the wrong direction

The Zogby Poll®: High taxes and corruption in Albany top voters' list of biggest problems facing NYS; A majority of New York voters think Cuomo is doing a bad job as governor; More than half of voters think the state is headed in the wrong direction

Cuomo's approval rating only slightly higher than Trump's in New York

A new Zogby survey of 708 likely voters in New York shows voters are most concerned with high taxes and corruption in Albany. The poll of New York state likely voters was conducted 6/27/18 - 7/3/18 with a MOE +/- 3.7 percentage points.

According to New York state likely voters, the two biggest issues facing the state are high taxes (52%) and corruption in Albany (29%). The other issues on New Yorkers' minds were violent crime (24%), good paying jobs (20%), poverty, (20%), and public education (20%).

Certain issues were more pressing to different demographic groups. High taxes were more of an issue to suburban (66%) and upstate voters (58%) than to NYC voters (31%). Gender also played a part, as taxes were more important to men (57%) compared to women (48%), while the issue of violent crime was more important to women (32%) than men (15%). More demographic differences were evident with the issues of public education (20%) and investment in infrastructure (16%). Democrats (26% and 21%, respectively) were much more likely to believe these two issues were top priorities for the state compared to republicans (14% and 16%, respectively) and independents (17% and 10%, respectively). Among Millennials, the two biggest priorities for the state were violent crime (37%) and public education (33%).

A majority (51%) of New York likely voters think the state is headed in the wrong direction, compared to less than a third who think New York is on the right track. There were differences of opinion regionally. For example, NYC voters (35% right track/47% wrong track) were more likely to say the state is on the right track compared to upstate (27% right track/59% wrong track) voters who were much more pessimistic about the direction of the state.

Democrats (43% right track/36% wrong track) were more likely to think New York is on the right track compared to republicans (18% right track/72% wrong track) and independents (26% right track/51% wrong track). Large city voters (36% right track/47% wrong track) thought the state was doing better than voters in small cities (25% right track/56% wrong track), rural areas (23% right track/58% wrong track) and the suburbs (31% right track/51% wrong track).

Overall, Governor Cuomo's numbers are not that great when it comes to how New York state voters rate the job he has done as executive. Two in five think he is doing a good job (10% excellent and 31% good), while 58% think he is doing a bad job (32% fair/26% bad). He does best with his base-Millennials (47% good/52% bad), lower income voters--<$25k (49% good/49% bad), women (44% good/55% bad), NYC voters (47% good/50% bad), large city voters (48% good/49% bad), liberals (57% good/43% bad), Hispanics (49% good/48% bad), and African Americans (56% good 41% bad).

The governor's favorability rating isn't great news, especially for someone who is seeking a third term, but based on our previous primary and general election poll results, Andrew Cuomo isn't paying the price yet of unhappy voters.

As expected, Trump’s numbers are not great in New York--only slightly more than a third of New York likely voters think President Trump is doing a good job as commander in chief. Almost two thirds of New York voters think he is doing a bad job. His numbers were dismal among most demographics tested, but the president did slightly improve his rating among men (42% good/57% bad), older voters age 65+ (39% good/60% bad), rural voters (45% good/55% bad), and middle--$50-75k (43% good/55% bad) and upper income voters--$100-150k (41% good/60% bad).